Jakk-athha’s background & personality

Gerruun Loika, an immigrant engineer (father) and Shaardeen, a dabbler (mother), arrived to Sel-kai on the invite of Shaardeen’s uncle, Tassien Fortell (also a dabbler). Tassien promised they would want for nothing living in the great city under his protection. Unfortunately he ran into “trouble” soon after they arrived and went missing. Shaardeen discovered she was pregnant, and Jakk-athha was born an only child. From his mother he received his crystal clear voice [golden throat] and from his father his piercing gaze [intense eyes].

Father worked on the bridges of the waterways of Sel-kai and was hardworking, undervalued and underpaid. He wanted Jakk-athha to follow in his trade. He would teach Jakk-athha what he could about the bridges and their mechanisms, taking him on grand tours of the city on some occasions. Although he learnt many skills from his father, he learnt more about his father’s hard life than he would have liked. Whenever Gerruun had a task for him, instead of following the direct instruction, he would find his own roundabout solution. So he didn’t directly learn the trade his father was showing him, but learnt to improvise.

He would often escape his father’s lessons and go in search of his mother, who well loved in many social circles, including some upper circles which his family were excluded from. She had a keen eye for the foibles of other people’s existence and a great sense of humour to laugh at them. She pointed out these flaws she saw to Jakk whenever she had a chance. He learnt quickly that he had his mother’s skill for spotting people were thinking or feeling, and the common mistakes people made when trying to mask their emotions [prodigy: Social Awareness].

Both of his parents’s instilled in him a respect for life, always scolding him for the many fist fights he got into on the streets of Sel-kai. One evening, when his mother was walking home from dinner with a friend, a group of wealthy men who knew her pursued her with the intention of raping her. In the struggle, she fell from one of the canal walkways and hit her head off a rock in the water. Jakk-athha, who was coming to meet her, found her lying, bleeding to death on the opposite bank from which she fell. Seeing Jakk had arrived, the men began to run towards him (via the nearest bridge) branding weapons. He readied himself for a fight, although only a young boy at this time. His first attacker struck, Jakk fell to the ground. Lying there, he saw a flaw in the man’s attack and realised he could exploit this to his advantage. He hit the man and he fell into the canal [Sense weakness]. Dying in front of him, she screamed for him not to fight them, and to run instead and to always run from a fight if possible. Those words were ingrained in his head from that day forward [Non-violent]. The experience completely knocked his confidence, and he felt that no one could ever rely on him again [Look of weasels].

Jakk-athha’s mother’s many friends rallied around the family for the months after that, most of which were quite fond of Jakk. He realised he could move around in different social circles like his mother had done. As he allowed himself to be cheered up by these people, he spotted many false and shallow people, some women who he saw had some design for his father to remarry, some men who had been making his father’s work and life more difficult, some girls who just wanted a little romance. He decided to begin manipulating these people to his advantage: extorting money from some, manipulating favours from others, all the while helping his mother’s truer friends and his heart broken father in what way he could. His father never gave up on his plans for him, but Jakk had found an easier trade. It was in this way he lived his life for many years, frequenting high society some days, but more comfortable in his own lower society. He made many enemies, and had many brushes with the law, but he always managed to escape somehow, mostly unharmed [Adrenal Defense].

It was through his many trips to high social functions that Jakk-athha was approached by a man called who looked familiar, and who claimed to be his uncle, Tassien Fortell. He made Jakk feel very warm towards him, even though his gut told him there was something suspicious about him. After the effects of a spell which Tassien had cast wore off, Jakk had already been persuaded to come to his house, which was full of plans of intrigue and plots of fortune making. Tassien was truly in the business of conning people out of their wealth. Jakk realised what an amateur he had been. Tassien convinced Jakk to become an apprentice, recognising innate talent he had inherited from his mother. He also asked Jakk to keep his presence a secret from his father, for whatever reason. Jakk applied himself to the study of dabbler spells the same nonchalant way he approached the trade his father tried to give him, using improvisation. Although this got him results, it also caused him some nasty failures which he had problems controlling [Inglorious Failure].
So began Jakk’s life as a dabbler, and his pursuit of wealth and mastery of the spell craft associated.